The Institution of Chemical Engineers’ (IChemE) celebrated ten years of successful operation in Malaysia tonight, at its annual Awards dinner held at the Le Meridien Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Recognising celebrated outstanding achievements in the Malaysian chemical engineering community, the event concluded the second leg of the Institution’s Global Awards programme.

IChemE’s President Professor Jonathan Seville gave the opening address, and welcomed guests who included IChemE’s Royal Patron and Guest of Honour HRH Tuanku Zara Salim.

The first award for Industry Project of the Year, sponsored by Schaefer Kalk, was won by Synthomer, who have developed a methodology for reviewing energy processes and interpreting the data to identify energy saving opportunities.

It was a successful night for Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd, the world’s largest producer of sustainable palm oil. They went away with both the highly commended mention and the winning trophy in two categories – the Palm Oil Award, sponsored by IChemE’s Palm Oil Special Interest Group, and the Sustainable Technology Award, sponsored by Environmental Resources Management (ERM).

The winning project – ‘Re-engineering current palm oil degumming process ‘ – saw the Sime Darby team improve the current palm oil degumming process by using less acid. This resulted in reduced operational cost, increased throughput and reduced impact on the environment.

PETRONAS also enjoyed a night of accolades and won the Oil and Gas Award, sponsored by IChemE’s Energy Centre, in a joint entry with Queens University Belfast. The team have developed a novel technology to extract mercury from steam in a single step.

Anis Zafirah Binti Sipal Anuwar of PETRONAS Chemicals Olefins was named Young Chemical Engineer in Industry winner, with Jeremy Yong of Sarawak Shell Behad as highly commended. Nurzatil Aqmar bt Othman, also from PETRONAS was named highly commended as the Young Chemical Engineer in Research. She was beaten to first place by Pau Loke Show, from University of Nottingham Malaysia. His work in bioprocessing has seen him publish more than 33 journal papers.

PETRONAS narrowly missed out on the Process Safety Award, which was claimed by Asean Bintulu Fertilizer. They have removed the use of chlorine in cooling water treatment, ensuring a safer environment for employees and surrounding communities. The project is an important milestone for the town of Bintulu, which ABF wants to become the next chlorine-free town in Malaysia.

Petrofac Engineering Services also showed a commitment to the next generation of chemical engineers as they triumphed in the Training and Development category. Their two year training programme provides graduates with the skills and knowledge to build 3D plant design management systems in the oil and gas sector.

IChemE’s President Jonathan Seville said:

“IChemE’s purpose is to advance chemical engineering worldwide for the benefit of society and Malaysia is no exception. Chemical engineering makes a huge contribution to the economy of this nation, and we are delighted to work with a plethora of companies to secure a pipeline of committed, competent and trusted professionals who will make the world a better place. Tonight’s ceremony has been a celebration of those trusted professionals, and I am so pleased to see such energy and passion from our Malaysian board, partners and members.”

Chair of IChemE Malaysia, Dr Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Raman said:

“Tonight has been incredibly special, not least because we are marking IChemE Malaysia’s 10 year anniversary and we are honoured by the attendance of our Royal Patron HRH Tuanku Zara Salim.

“This celebration is important because it brings unity and positivity to the profession. Tonight’s winners should take great pride in their achievements, and I hope they will join me in helping to secure Malaysia as the hub for chemical engineering excellence in South East Asia.”

The IChemE Malaysia Awards were held at the Le Meridien Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, on 24 October 2016. The national IChemE Malaysia Awards winners (excluding the Palm Oil Award winner) will automatically be shortlisted for the IChemE Global Awards, which will be held in Manchester, UK on Thursday 3 November.

Summary of winning entry: Keen to deliver best-in-class energy performance, Synthomer created a structured methodology to understand and reduce energy consumption at one of its synthetic latex plants in Malaysia. Data was captured and generated across the whole manufacturing process, including steam generation and utilities, to determine the current and target energy consumptions and identify challenges and opportunities for energy savings. The implemented changes followed a new project management framework, where all stakeholders agree at key milestones during the project to effectively deliver and sustain the energy savings.

Summary of winning entry: PETRONAS has made a breakthrough in contaminant removal and invented a proprietary process using ionic liquids to remove mercury from raw natural condensate streams in a single step. The formulation was custom-designed to irreversibly capture all species of mercury, and to be water resistant for enhanced robustness during plant operations. This represents a major advancement in mercury removal technology with design bed life of three times longer than commercial absorbents, increasing the product lifecycles with longer intervals between shutdowns. This development reiterates PETRONAS commitment towards innovation, sustainability and safety towards health and the environment.

Summary of winning entry: Phosphoric acid is one of the most expensive operating costs for palm oil refiners, who use it for degumming. The Sime Darby Research team focused on improving the current design of degumming section, reducing acid concentration and optimising the degumming processing parameters. Not only did the team reduce the consumption of the phosphoric acid, it also sparked a positive chain reaction effect on the subsequent process. The project also reduced bleaching earth costs and increased the plant throughput. Potential benefits for this project is RM59.6m/y with potential application at another ten refineries.

Summary of winning entry: ABF’s electrochlorination project eliminated a major hazard – the use of chlorine for cooling water treatment. The project is the first to be applied to non-seawater systems in Petronas and in Malaysia. The system, which produces sodium hypochlorite as an alternative to chlorine, was installed in October 2015 following detailed studies and engineering design. The new system ensures safety of employees, and those living around the ABF plant. The project is an important milestone for Bintulu to become the next chlorine-free town in Malaysia. Potentially, similar technology can be applied at other water treatment plants.

Summary of winning entry: Phosphoric acid is one of the most expensive operating costs for palm oil refiners, who use it for degumming. The Sime Darby Research team focused on improving the current design of degumming section, reducing acid concentration and optimising the degumming processing parameters. Not only did the team reduce the consumption of the phosphoric acid, it also sparked a positive chain reaction effect on the subsequent process. The project also reduced bleaching earth costs and increased the plant throughput. Potential benefits for this project is RM59.6m/y with potential application at another ten refineries.

Training and Development Award (Malaysia) sponsored by DNV-GL

Summary of winning entry: Entering the oil and gas industry presents an opportunity for talented individuals to embark upon a challenging yet rewarding career. Petrofac Engineering Services’ I3D engineer programme is tailored to help graduates master the skills, and knowledge, required to build 3D plant design management systems in the sector. Designed to run over a minimum period of two years, it aims to develop graduates through intense technical training and a variety of soft skills programmes.
The programme provides extensive practical experience through involvement with real projects, along with mentoring and coaching from highly skilled professionals.

Young Chemical Engineer in Industry Award (Malaysia) sponsored by The Chemical Engineer

Summary of winning entry: Anis graduated in MEng Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University Belfast. At University she was awarded the 2011 British Council Shine! International Student Award (highly commended) for Northern Ireland. During her early career, she was awarded 2013 Best HSE Personality Award for her pivotal role in ensuring vigilant HSE monitoring implemented at site during major turnaround. Anis holds an additional role as Quality Coordinator and Certified Internal Auditor for ISO 9000:2008. Anis’ notable achievements include a reduction of unnecessary sampling, saving an estimated RM350,000/year, a co-ordinated product quality trial run to increase export of Ethylene with marginal contribution to higher earnings, and PCOSB breakthrough NPBT RM 163.8m in 2015.

Young Chemical Engineer in Research Award (Malaysia) sponsored by the IChemE Education Special Interest Group

Summary of winning entry: Dr Pau-Loke Show is an Associate Professor at University of Nottingham Malaysia campus. He holds a PhD in bioprocess engineering. His research focuses from upstream to downstream in bioprocessing, specifically in bioseparation engineering.
Pau-Loke has published more than 33 research journal papers, 2 book chapters, obtained 1 patent and presented 5 research papers at international conferences. He is serving on the international scientific committees of 5 international conferences, is the primary researcher for 12 grants projects, and reviews for 50 peer-reviewed journals. Based on his research performance, he was recognized with the highest Platinum Research Award in 2013, 2014 and 2015 from the University Research Division.

About chemical engineers

Chemical, biochemical and process engineering is the application of science, maths and economics in the process of turning raw materials into everyday, and more specialist, products. Professional chemical engineers design, construct and manage process operations all over the world. Oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, food and drink, synthetic fibres and clean drinking water are just some of the products where chemical engineering plays a central role.

About IChemE

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is the global professional membership organisation for people with relevant experience or an interest in chemical engineering. With a growing global membership of over 44,000, the Institution is at the heart of the process community, promoting competence and a commitment to best practice, advancing the discipline for the benefit of society, encouraging young people in science and engineering and supporting the professional development of its members. IChemE is the only organisation to award Chartered Chemical Engineer and Professional Process Safety Engineer status.